Quantification of forecast error costs of photovoltaic prosumers in Italy

In recent years, the diffusion of electric plants based on renewable non-dispatchable sources has caused large imbalances between the power generation schedule and the actual generation in real time operations, resulting in increased costs for dispatching electric power systems. Although this type of source cannot be programmed, their production can be predicted using soft computing techniques that consider weather forecasts, reducing the imbalance costs paid to the transmission system operator (TSO). The problem is mainly that the forecasting procedures used by the TSO, distribution system operator (DSO) or large producers and they are too expensive, as they use complex algorithms and detailed meteorological data that have to be bought, this can represent an excessive charge for small-scale producers, such as prosumers. In this paper, a cheap photovoltaic (PV) production forecasting method, in terms of reduced computational effort, free-available meteorological data and implementation is discussed, and the economic results regarding the imbalance costs due to the utilization of this method are analyzed. The economic analysis is carried out considering several factors, such as the month, the day type, and the accuracy of the forecasting method. The user can utilize the implemented method to know and reduce the imbalance costs, by adopting particular load management strategies.